Book Reviews
What Can Be Done with Documents
Inside the Stalin Archives: Discovering the New Russia Jonathan Brent (New York: Atlas & Co., 2008), 304 pages. In January 1992, Jonathan Brent, a newly appointed editor at Yale University Press...
Constructing a Post-Communist Economic Order
Economic Liberalism and Its Rivals: The Formation of International Institutions among the Post-Soviet States Keith Darden (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 351 pages. In addition to...
Unwrapping Russian Foreign Policy
Russian Foreign Policy: The Return of Great Power Politics Jeffrey Mankoff (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 359 pages. A typical outsider’s concept of Russian foreign policy might...
Re-Examining Russian Energy Power
Russian Energy Power and Foreign Relations: Implications for Conflict and Cooperation Jeronim Perović, Robert W. Orttung, Andreas Wenger (eds.) (London: Taylor & Francis, 2009), 254 pages. The...
Further Reading
The New Cold War: The Future of Russia and the Threat to the West Edward Lucas (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 215 pages. The murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the state...
The Hegemon’s Dilemma
The Accidental Guerilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One David Kilcullen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 384 pages. Conducting wartime analysis is tantamount to blind men...
Reshaping Religious Institutions: Studying the Impact of State Involvement and Regional Conflict on Pakistan’s Madrassahs
Islam and Education: Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan’s Madrassahs Saleem H. Ali (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2009), 350 pages. In recent years, madrassahs or Islamic seminaries in...
Pulling the Rug out from under Al Qaeda
The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future Bruce Riedel (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2008), 224 pages. Maybe it’s his training as a CIA analyst. Maybe it...